Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Leading Healthcare Through Innovation with Chibueze Okey Agba

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Leading Healthcare Through Innovation with Chibueze Okey Agba · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:00
  - When it comes to today's RCM, we know
• 0:02
  - the challenges,
• 0:03
  - complexity of claims, talent shortages,
• 0:05
  - low funding, and lagging tech.
• 0:08
  - That's why we built MedMetrix.
• 0:10
  - We have the expertise and advanced tech to
• 0:13
  - give you that edge on your revenue cycle.
• 0:15
  - We're a partner who will relentlessly raise your
• 0:17
  - yield, a partner who's on your side because
• 0:20
  - they've been operator side, who knows your battles
• 0:23
  - and will make sure you win from start
• 0:25
  - to finish, end to end. MedMetrix,
• 0:28
  - be exceptional.
• 0:30
  - This is Alan Condon back with another episode
• 0:33
  - of the Becker's CFO
• 0:35
  - and revenue cycle podcast.
• 0:37
  - And today, I'm thrilled to welcome back Oke
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  - Agba, executive vice president and CFO of Hartford
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  - HealthCare.
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  - Okay. I believe that you're coming up on
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  - your fifth anniversary in your current role of
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  - CFO at Hartford HealthCare. Pleasure to have you
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  - back on the podcast. For those of our
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  - listeners who might be as well acquainted with
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  - you and the fantastic work that you and
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  - your colleagues do at Hartford HealthCare, do you
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  - mind just giving us a a sixty second
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  - breakdown of kind of your background in health
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  - care and where you are today?
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  - Well, thank you, and thank you for inviting
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  - me. You know, as you mentioned, my name
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  - is Okey Agba. I'm the executive vice president
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  - and chief financial officer
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  - of Hartford HealthCare.
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  - And Hartford HealthCare is an integrated
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  - health
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  - care delivery system in Connecticut.
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  - Prior to my
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  - coming to Hartford HealthCare, I was the chief
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  - financial officer
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  - of Cleveland Clinic,
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  - you know, first in Abu Dhabi and then
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  - at Cleveland Clinic for it in Florida.
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  - Earlier career in Boston
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  - include Mass General Brigham,
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  - Harvard Medical School,
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  - and Tufts
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  - Medicine.
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  - So I've been fortunate to have a diversity
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  - of experience
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  - in academic medicine,
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  - as well as global
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  - health care leadership.
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  - Fantastic. I think such a fascinating and unique
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  - background, OCA, like you said, leadership roles in
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  - major major academic medical centers, both in The
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  - US, also internationally, like you said with Cleveland
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  - Clinic campus in Abu Dhabi, Cleveland Clinic Florida,
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  - Massachusetts General Brigham, Harvard Med School, Toast Medicine,
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  - some fantastic high level institutions across the board
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  - here before you landed in your current role
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  - at Hartford Healthcare for the last five years.
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  - So okay. I guess, we're now into q
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  - three,
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  - q four on the horizon.
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  - Can you kinda give me a breakdown? So
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  - so much happening in terms of health care
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  - finance, health care policy at the moment.
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  - What is the the number one trend or
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  - shift that you're paying most attention to as
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  - CFO at Hartford HealthCare today, and why?
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  - Alright. This is a great question. I don't
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  - wanna disappoint you. But as a CFO of
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  - Hartford HealthCare,
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  - you know, I don't I don't worry about
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  - health care trends really.
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  - You know, I worry about how we
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  - coordinate patient care to remove
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  - friction from our patients.
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  - I worry about how we ensure
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  - that we
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  - meet our patients where they are.
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  - I worry about how we leverage
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  - AI and other technology to improve care and
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  - simplify
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  - administrative
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  - work.
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  - In my mind, really, and in my job
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  - as a CFO,
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  - I do believe that when we do this
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  - right,
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  - our financial performance, including
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  - operating margin
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  - and cash will improve.
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  - If we don't do them right, it doesn't
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  - really matter how much we think about health
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  - care trends and so forth who will be
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  - lagging.
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  - So these are the things that I spent
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  - a lot of my time thinking about are
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  - not about financial trends.
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  - Mhmm. I'm curious, okay, if you could give
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  - us so we hear so much from from
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  - CFOs like yourself in terms of really focusing
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  - on, like you said, removing that fish friction,
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  - meeting patients where they are. But more and
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  - more to your point hearing about how you're
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  - leveraging AI to improve care and simplify that
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  - administrative
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  - work,
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  - is there one or two key things that
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  - you could highlight that's really made an impact
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  - or a really significant ROI
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  - for Hartford HealthCare in terms of using AI
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  - to maybe reduce, that administrative
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  - work?
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  - Absolutely.
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  - You know, we're using,
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  - a lot of AI in the clinical side.
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  - We're also using AI in revenue cycle side.
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  - Few years ago, we implemented
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  - a number of bots
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  - to really help us to respond to the
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  - payers
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  - systematically.
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  - And one of those bots include
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  - notice of admission,
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  - which we executed
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  - with really a small amount of dollar.
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  - And what that does for us is that
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  - it saved about 13 FTEs
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  - and helped us to streamline,
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  - you know, the processes,
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  - you know, across the revenue cycle.
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  - We are still working on major partnership
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  - to really bring AI to bear,
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  - you know, so that our teams
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  - we're not necessarily trying to replace our teams,
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  - but we want to equip our teams
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  - with the information that they need so that
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  - they can work at the top of their
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  - talents.
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  - Fantastic. No. I appreciate the the specific example,
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  - specifically in terms of how you're using it
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  - and the revenue cycle there. It should be
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  - so so relevant to this podcast and listeners
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  - here.
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  - I wanted to turn to growth.
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  - Okay. I know, Hartford HealthCare has experienced a
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  - ton of growth in recent years. I recently
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  - spoke with your your CEO, president Jeffrey Flax
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  - at our our annual meeting and not too
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  - long ago here in Chicago in April. I
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  - know Hartford HealthCare recently acquired two hospitals, Manchester
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  - Memorial,
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  - Rockville General as well, if I'm not mistaken.
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  - But from your from your perspective,
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  - where do you see the biggest opportunities for
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  - smart growth over the next couple of years?
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  - Let me let me answer that question
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  - differently.
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  - Historically,
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  - health systems like us
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  - forget that patients
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  - are our customers.
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  - And because of this, we erroneously
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  - assume that since patients are going to be
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  - sick,
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  - since they're going to be sick, they will
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  - always look for us.
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  - Hartford HealthCare
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  - and I in particular do not subscribe to
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  - that philosophy. The biggest opportunity we have
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  - subscribe to that philosophy. The biggest opportunity we
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  - have in Hartford HealthCare
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  - is to create
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  - seamless access
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  - for our patients and then coordinate
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  - their
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  - care journey.
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  - We must give our patients
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  - the same type of experience they get from
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  - Amazon,
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  - the same type of experience they get from
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  - Apple.
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  - Whether those patients
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  - come to us through our
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  - 20 fourseven
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  - or through our hospitals,
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  - urgent care, behavioral health,
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  - what have you. It should be the same
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  - seamless experience.
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  - We must provide those care at the right
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  - place, right time, right price point.
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  - And I believe that if we do this
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  - right, we will continue to grow.
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  - If we don't do it right,
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  - there are some nonhospital
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  - providers that are going to come in into
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  - our industry
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  - and grow faster than we do. So my
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  - objective is really for us to provide
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  - similar special
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  - access to our
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  - customers, our consumers, so that we can continue
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  - to grow.
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  - That's such a fascinating point and something that
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  - I that I hear more and more from
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  - from CEOs, from CFOs like yourself.
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  - I'm curious, okay, if you could maybe elaborate
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  - on,
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  - we hear you mentioned Amazon in your response
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  - there. We hear so so much about,
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  - consumerism
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  - and health care, rising consumers and health care
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  - as patients maybe,
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  - increasingly
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  - shop around for their health care, for lack
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  - of a better word. Can you maybe elaborate
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  - on
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  - why consumerism,
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  - the patient experience is so so important now
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  - and kind of this you see this as
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  - a really key differentiator
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  - for for health systems in such a competitive
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  - marketplace in Connecticut?
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  - It is a key differentiator,
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  - you know. At Hartford HealthCare, we want to
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  - be
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  - the most consumer centric
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  - patient
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  - most customer centric health system in the country.
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  - And what does that mean? It means that
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  - we have to meet patients where they are.
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  - We consider ourselves a house with thousand doors.
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  - And so
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  - whichever way the patient wants to connect with
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  - us, whether it's you know, through twenty four
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  - seven,
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  - through our behavioral health, through our acute care,
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  - we have to really give them this
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  - the experience that they deserve. I mean, if
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  - you think about it, you know, if you,
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  - you know, if you want to order Uber,
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  - you order Uber and in the next five
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  - minutes, it will be at your doorstep. If
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  - you want to order food, it's at your
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  - doorstep.
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  - Why shouldn't we meet the patients
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  - or our customers
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  - where they want to be met. Why should
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  - we
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  - wait until they want to meet with us?
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  - We need to really meet them where they
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  - want to be met and coordinate their care
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  - as efficiently as possible.
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  - Mhmm. Yeah. Fascinating to kinda hear how Hartford
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  - HealthCare is tackling that meeting patients where they
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  - are, gonna use technology to really increase access
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  - across the board as well.
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  - Okay. The the last question I have for
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  - you gonna focus on more of a leadership
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  - question for other CFOs out there.
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  - Arguably, we're we're in arguably one of the
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  - most challenging operating environments we've seen in quite
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  - some time for ourselves and health systems, a
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  - very, very tumultuous
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  - policy environment as well.
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  - For CEO CFOs, excuse me, who may be
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  - just starting out in their role at a
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  - hospital, at a health system today,
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  - Is there a leadership lesson that you'd like
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  - to share with those CFOs early in their
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  - career? Maybe is there anything that really sticks
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  - out to you that helps you out during
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  - your tenure as CFO?
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  - Absolutely. You know, traditionally,
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  - CFOs
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  - are
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  - considered
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  - as accountants and number crunchers.
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  - Today, health care CFOs
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  - must be multidimensional.
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  - And the multidimensional
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  - should be driven by situation,
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  - a particular situation.
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  - Some days, the CFO
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  - may act as a de facto COO.
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  - Other days, the CFO may act as the
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  - de facto chief strategy officer.
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  - And other days, the CFOs
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  - should be working with the chief clinical officer,
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  - chief nursing officer to ensure
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  - that high quality of care
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  - is provided to the patients.
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  - Playing these multiplicity
• 11:08
  - of roles improve the CFO's ability to allocate
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  - capital across the organization
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  - and across the areas
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  - of most need.
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  - In addition, having a strategic mindset,
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  - embracing
• 11:23
  - technology
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  - is extremely important.
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  - It is also important
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  - that the CFO understand
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  - that his or her health care system
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  - cannot do it alone.
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  - And as a result of that, CFO should
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  - know
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  - when it is appropriate
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  - to partner with others. For example, here at
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  - Hartford HealthCare,
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  - we partner with GoHealth to provide urgent care.
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  - We partner with CVS.
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  - We partner with Amazon One Medical
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  - and others. And our goal is to ensure
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  - that we provide holistic care to all our
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  - patient.
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  - All these media ensure that we play
• 12:05
  - in every aspect of health care. But I
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  - have to tell you, you cannot do it
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  - alone
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  - because the capital requirement to do it alone
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  - is very enormous.
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  - Okay. Last last question. Because just my curiosity
• 12:19
  - has gotten the better of you. You talk
• 12:20
  - so much about the chief strategy officers, inter
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  - CFOs being being more strategists as catalyst for
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  - change, driving transformation,
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  - getting away from those traditional CFOs of old
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  - where their number crunching being financial stewards for
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  - the organization.
• 12:36
  - What is the part of the role that
• 12:38
  - you most enjoy,
• 12:39
  - today?
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  - It it it actually depends on the, you
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  - know, on the time of the day. Some
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  - days, you know, I am playing a major
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  - strategic roles.
• 12:50
  - Other days, I'm playing,
• 12:52
  - you know, major operational role.
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  - Other days, I am be able to coordinate
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  - care across, you know, the system. I think
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  - it's important to know that
• 13:03
  - we have to be multidimensional
• 13:05
  - because health care has never been better.
• 13:09
  - We can do things much faster
• 13:11
  - than we've done
• 13:13
  - last month or last year.
• 13:15
  - AI
• 13:16
  - will revolutionize
• 13:18
  - care delivery.
• 13:19
  - And those of us
• 13:21
  - that
• 13:22
  - are performing support functions,
• 13:24
  - we better start catching up
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  - with the clinical team. So technology and innovation
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  - can help us
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  - and help our workforce
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  - work better
• 13:35
  - and faster.
• 13:36
  - In my opinion, you know, to really be
• 13:38
  - successful CFO,
• 13:40
  - you know, you must combine
• 13:42
  - technology,
• 13:43
  - partnership,
• 13:44
  - human expertise,
• 13:45
  - you know, to help in the care delivery.
• 13:48
  - Because
• 13:49
  - ultimately,
• 13:51
  - the winner
• 13:52
  - in this health care race
• 13:54
  - has to provide
• 13:56
  - a more efficient
• 13:58
  - and accessible
• 13:59
  - and affordable health care. I think if we
• 14:02
  - do it right, and the CFOs can be
• 14:04
  - the catalyst for this, And if we do
• 14:06
  - it right, we'll always be successful.
• 14:09
  - Yeah. Absolutely. Love that answer. And certainly a
• 14:12
  - challenging time, no doubt, but no doubt, a
• 14:13
  - very exciting time to be a CFO as
• 14:16
  - well.
• 14:17
  - Okay. So so greatly appreciate you taking the
• 14:19
  - time out of your busy schedule. I really
• 14:21
  - appreciate the work that you and your fantastic
• 14:23
  - team doing, and thank you so much for
• 14:24
  - joining us on the Becker CFO and Revenue
• 14:26
  - Cycle podcast today.
• 14:28
  - Thank you. Appreciate it.